top of page
Search

Celebrate Memorial Day with Floral Displays!!

  • 4 hours ago
  • 4 min read
Sunny Amsonia wildflower garden with a rustic wooden fence and blooming purple and white flowers in lush green grass
Amsonia standing out in a stunning front yard garden

Welcome back to Bountiful Gardens! The heat is on, and Summer’s coming up fast! There’s no time to waste, so let’s get back on the road and see what’s blooming for Memorial Day weekend. 


Pale pink roses bloom on a green garden arch against a bright blue sky, creating a calm, sunny spring scene.
A climbing rose creeping over a trellis

Roses - Rosa

One of the surest signs of Summer has to be the opening of the Roses, and sure enough, they’ve just started to bloom! These legendary sun-loving garden classics need no introduction and come in an ever-expanding array of colors and growth habits. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on these beauties throughout the season, so stay tuned!


Purple Baptesia flowers and green foliage in a sunny garden, with a blurred lawn path in the background.
Baptesia flowers reaching up toward the sun

False Indigo - Baptesia

This week we’re seeing our native Baptesia come into bloom. This sun-loving perennial is a member of the pea family, thriving in poor soils while actively improving them, and it’s even highly drought and deer resistant. Historically, Native Americans have used the pigments from Baptesia flowers as a substitute for Indigo, giving the plant the common name “False Indigo”. 

Sunlit garden with tall purple Baptesia wildflowers above bright green hedges, red foliage at right, and a soft wooded background.
Baptesia glowing from a backyard garden

Its roots are also highly medicinal, frequently being used alongside Echinacea to boost immunity and treat respiratory infections, sores and more. 


Pink Ragged Robin wildflowers bloom in a lush green garden beside a blurred wooden path, creating a calm, dreamy scene.
Ragged Robin along a streamside trail

Ragged Robin - Lychnis flos-cuculi

Looking to add vibrant wet meadow vibes to that sunny, boggy spot in the garden? Ragged Robin has you covered with its perky pink, deer-resistant blooms that reach up to 3 feet in height, standing out in the late Spring landscape.


Sunlit field of Amsonia wildflowers with green stems, swaying in a garden-like setting against a dark blurred background.
Amsonia in full Spring bloom

Bluestar -Amsonia

While there are plenty of “stars” in the late Spring garden, few stand out like Bluestar, or Amsonia. Once established, this long-lived native perennial is able to thrive in both wet and droughty conditions in full sun and part shade. After these blue flowers fall in Summer, the plant provides flowing foliage in the garden before putting on their final show of the year—a brilliant display of red, yellow and orange Fall color. 

Closeup of Fall foliage on Bluestar Amsonia
Bluestar features gorgeous Fall foliage

Thanks to their latex sap, they’re also near-impervious to deer, and that same sap has been used by Native Americans to help keep wounds sealed. 


Red columbine flowers bloom beside a stone garden path, with lush green foliage blurred in the background.
Red Columbine along a stone path

Columbine - Aquilegia

For some of the most stunning, hummingbird-beloved blooms of the season, make sure to add Columbine to your garden palette. This native perennial does best in rich, well draining soils in partial shade, though it can tolerate full sun when given enough moisture. Red Columbine is our locally-native species, though you can also find Blue Columbine and some fancy cultivars in the landscape. 

Pink columbine flowers bloom among rocks in a soft-focus garden, creating a delicate spring scene.
Columbine comes in many shapes and colors.

Amazingly, science has now proven that Columbine’s original native range is in Asia, with evidence of the plant “migrating” across the Bering land bridge into North America during the last Ice Age, making Columbine as native to North America as the First People. 


Sunlit Weigela with bright red flowers and green leaves, beside blurred stone steps and wall, calm spring scene
Summon the hummingbirds with Weigela!

Weigela

If you want to call hummingbirds in from far and wide, you’ll want Weigela in the landscape. These hardy, deer-resistant deciduous shrubs feature the vibrant, tubular flowers that hummingbirds hunt for, and can reach up to ten feet tall and wide in time, depending on the variety. 

Pink and purple Weigela and tall reeds bloom beside a calm pond on a sunny day.
A beautiful pondside Weigela

Weigela comes in multiple flower and foliage colors, and prefers full sun and rich, moist, well-draining soil. Its blooms are often used to symbolize deep, everlasting love, so if you’re trying to make a statement to someone, here’s your chance! 


Purple Bloomerang lilac bush blooming in a sunny garden, with a walkway, trees, and a building in the background.
Bloom through frost with Bloomerang!

Bloomerang Lilac

Want the unmistakably sweet scent of Lilacs all the way through Fall? Plant a Bloomerang! By flowering on both new AND old growth, these incredible Lilac cultivars defy the laws of traditional “Old Fashioned” varieties, which only bloom for about two weeks in early Spring.

White Bloomerang lilac blossoms on a leafy green bush in a sunny garden, with blurred trees and blue sky in the background.
Bloomerang flowers may be small, but they pack a fragrant punch!

You’ll want to plant in full sun, and make sure to give your Bloomerang a deep soak during Summer dry spells so it can keep on blooming through the first frost. 


Calycanthus with pink blossoms in a park, with a blurred path and tree in the background.
Calycanthus features a sweet, spicy fragrance that gave it one of its common names, Sweetshrub.

Sweetshrub - Calycanthus

With some of the most unique flowers in the native landscape, Calycanthus is a showstopper. Thriving in full sun to part shade in moist, rich, well-draining soils, this shrub is a living relic from a time before bees existed, with its blossoms still primarily being pollinated by sap beetles. 

Close-up of burgundy-leaved Calycanthus shrub in a lush garden, with blurred flowers and a signpost in the background on a sunny day
There are plenty of Calycanthus cultivars to choose from

Its fragrant flowers, leaves and bark have been used in Appalachian history as both a perfume and as a cinnamon substitute for thousands of years, leading to one of its common names, “Carolina Allspice”. 


Dense pink azalea blossoms fill the frame in a sunlit garden, with green leaves peeking through.
A densely blooming hedge of Azaleas in early May

Azaleas & Rhododendrons

Closing out this week’s field trip, we have a classic garden combo: Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Azaleas started blooming all the way back in April, and now that they’re starting to pass their peak, Rhododendrons are opening up to steal the show.

Pink rhododendron blooms cluster among dark green leaves in a sunlit garden, creating a lush, colorful spring scene.
The proud pink blooms of Rhododendron

Both shrubs require partial shade and do best in moist, acidic well-draining soil, and it’s best to plant them “up” a bit to keep their shallow roots out of any standing water. 

Bright pink azalea blossoms bloom beside a sunlit garden path with green foliage.
A deep pink azalea along a shady pathway

Rhododendrons are typically evergreen, while most Azaleas are deciduous, but as is common in nature, there are always exceptions. No matter what you choose, you’ll enjoy gorgeous blooms while butterflies and bumblebees sip on nectar. 


Lush garden bed of green Amsonia foliage covered in clusters of tiny pale purple flowers.
Amsonia 'Blue Ice' in a raised bed

Happy Memorial Day, and Happy planting! 


 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page